Critical Condition 2
by MewLover54
Summary: Froakie has been involved with a big accident, causing the gang to stay with him during his time in the Coumarine City Pokemon Centre. There, he will have to heal, but luckily he has Fennekin with him every step of the ay, but is this because of guilt or something else? Sequel to Critical Condition, rated M for slight gore.
1. Falling

ML54: Hi guys!

Oshawott: Oh my Arceus! Could it be?!

Ash: It is! The promised sequel!

ML54: Yeah, I know it's been a while since I promised this sequel. I got the inspiration to write this since I started watching the Pokemon XY series! That new theme song is AWESOME! Disclaimer Froakie!

Froakie: ML54 doesn't own Pokemon.

**Falling**

It was a bright and early morning in the Kalos Region as our heroes, Ash, Serena, Clemont and Bonnie, were waiting on the harbour in Coumarine City. Their Pokemon, Pikachu, Fletchinder, Froakie, Hawlucha, Fennekin, Chespin, Dedenne and Bunnelby all by their feet, also waiting for...

...Something.

"Chespin Chespin? (Uh...What are we here for, Pikachu?)" Chespin asked, tilting his head around Bunnelby to face him. Pikachu turned back, excitedly.

"Pika Pika! (Ash's friend Dawn is coming here for a little while!)" He replied, with great enthusiasm and a twinkle in his eye.

Froakie tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Froakie...? (Why are you so excited...?)"

Dedenne giggled. "Dededededene! (Yeah! Is she your girlfriend?!)" She asked, putting a mockingly dreamy expression on her face.

Pikachu recoiled a bit, a blush adorning his cheeks. "Pika...Pikachu. (No...She owns my girlfriend.)"

The group looked directly at Pikachu in surprise, before they got over their shock long enough to ask questions.

"Fen fen? (Since when did you have a girlfriend?)"

"Bunnelby? (Who is she?)"

"Dedenne? (Can you find a wife for Clemont then?)" The group turned to the little orange Pokemon, most with an eyebrow raised. "Dedenne Den! (What, Bonnie can't look after him forever!)"

They sighed as a group while their trainers talked amongst themselves. "So what's Dawn like, Ash?" Serena asked, curiously. Ash grinned.

"Oh she's one of the best friends I've ever had! I met her in the Sinnoh Region while she was on her journey to become the top Pokemon Co-ordinator!" He declared, noticing his friends confused expressions.

"What's a Pokemon Co-ordinator, Clemont?" Bonnie asked her big brother, who rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"I honestly have no idea! This is new to me." Serena nodded in agreement, having never heard of this concept either.

"Yeah, so Ash, could you please explain?" Ash nodded, hoping this won't end up like the time he tried to explain Pokemon Evolution...That had ended up being explained by Clemont.

"Of course! A Pokemon Co-ordinator takes part in a thing called a Pokemon Contest. In a Contest, it's the Co-ordinator's job to try to draw the natural beauty and appeal of their Pokemon by using a move to show them off, then three judges gives a Co-ordinator a score out of ten each!" He explained in as much detail as he could without his head exploding.

"...That sounds so complex!" Bonnie complained, huffing. Ash smiled, squatting down to face her.

"Hey don't worry, Bonnie! I'm sure, once she gets here, she'll show you what I mean!" He said, much to the other three's excitement.

"Really?! Do you think she will?!" Bonnie asked, jumping on the spot a bit. Ash nodded. "Alright!"

"That does sound quite interesting, I'm sure we'd all like to see that, right Serena?" Serena nodded her head.

"Of course! It does sound impressive to say the least!" She commented. "So is there anything else about her we should know?"

"Of course! Right now she and her Buneary are doing some modelling back in Sinnoh, but she said she could come and travel with us for a while!"

"Modelling?!" Serena asked, shocked. Ash smiled, nodding.

"Yup! She's a bit of a fashion nut too, but she's really nice and a super strong battler as well..."

Serena looked at him as he continued to list off Dawn's many qualities before something occurred to her. "_Does...Does Ash have a crush on this girl?!" _

He had all the tell tale signs of having a crush on her. From the twinkle in his eye as he sings her praises, to the slight red tint to his cheeks as well.

On the outside she tried to keep up a bright smile, but on the inside, she could feel her heart break a little. She's had a crush on Ash ever since she saw him again on the TV, facing off against that Garchomp on top of Lumiose Tower. She wouldn't go as far as to say she's had this crush since they were in Professor Oak's Pokemon Camp all those years ago, but she's still had these feelings for a while.

Fennekin looked up at her trainer in worry, almost as if she could feel Serena's distress. It's said that a Pokemon and a Trainer can pick up on each other's feelings and sometimes mimic them and right now, there was some truth in that statement.

"HEY ASH!" They heard as a ship could be seen coming into port. On the bow of the ship, stood Dawn and Piplup, waving to their friend who had turned away from Serena to greet her, Pikachu jumping onto his shoulder.

"HI DAWN!" He replied, waving his arms in front of him to draw her attention, Pikachu looking at her...or rather the PokeBall on her belt.

* * *

><p>After the boat docked, the plank was set down and Dawn raced down, enveloping Ash in a warm hug, which he gladly returned. "Oh it's been such a long time! How've you and Pikachu been doing?! How many badges do you have?!" Ash grinned back, letting her go for a minute to get his badge case.<p>

"We've been going great! I already have three badges!" He announced, showing the three to her.

"Wow, that's so great! I'm really proud of you, Ash!" Ash blushed a bit, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Yeah, but I still got a long way to go..." He felt a tugging on his trouser leg and turned down to see Pikachu looking up at him with his arms crossed. "Oh right, you want to see Buneary again, don't ya, buddy?"

Pikachu nodded, to which Piplup rolled her eyes. "Piplup... (Loverboy...)" Dawn giggled, but nodded, grabbing three PokeBalls.

"No need to worry, I brought a few of my Pokemon with me! Come on out everyone!" She declared, releasing the three Pokemon, revealing themselves to be Cyndaquil, Chikorita and Buneary. Buneary then smiled widely and all but tackled Pikachu to the ground.

"BUNEARY! (PIKACHU!)" Bonnie's eyes sparkled at the scene of Buneary and Pikachu nuzzling each other without a care in the World.

"OH WOW! THAT IS ONE OF THE MOST CUTEST THINGS I'VE EVER SEEN!" She exclaimed, running up to them and looking at the little happy smiles and building of tears of joy in the corner's of Buneary's eyes. Dawn looked surprised for a bit, before Ash answered her unasked question.

"Oh yeah! Guys, this is Dawn!" Ash said, introducing his new travelling companions with his old one. "Dawn, these are Serena, Clemont and his little sister Bonnie!"

"Wow, it's so great to finally meet you! Ash has told me all about you, so I hope we get to be great friends." Dawn said to the three pleasantly, to which Bonnie's eyes started to look over her inquisitively before she announced.

"You're a KEEPER!" The other four recoiled as Bonnie got down on one knee and took Dawn's hand in her own. "You're the perfect girl to become my brother's wife!" Clemont looked on in horror while Dawn rose an eyebrow at her.

"BONNIE!" Clemont exclaimed, his mechanical Aipom Arm reaching over to grab her, dragging her away from the blue haired girl. "How many times do I have to tell you not to do that, it's so embarrassing!"

"I'll let you think about it!" Bonnie continued, not really listening to her brother. Serena and Ash sweat dropped while Dawn looked a little clueless about what happened.

"...She gets like that sometimes..." He then turned and motioned for the Pokemon to come over. "And here's some of the new Pokemon that we have. These three are mine, Froakie, Fletchinder and Hawlucha!" The three mentioned Pokemon nodded and greeted Dawn.

Serena then picked up the Fire-Type and said. "This is my partner, Fennekin!" Fennekin smiled and sneezed, causing a few embers to burst from her ears.

"And those three are Clemont's Pokemon, Chespin, Bunnelby and Dedenne, though Bonnie looks after Dedenne for him!" The three greeted her happily as their trainers slowly returned, after Clemont had had a talk with Bonnie.

"Well hello there all of you my name's Dawn, and these are Piplup, Cyndaquil, Chikorita and Buneary!" Serena looked on at the four, curiously, before retrieving her Pokedex.

"Piplup, the Penguin Pokemon! Because it is very proud, it hates accepting food from people! It's thick down guards it from cold!" The mechanical, female voice said as an image of Piplup appeared on the screen. She then moved it over to Cyndaquil.

"Cyndaquil, the fire mouse Pokemon! It has a timid nature! If it is startled, the flames on its back burn more vigorously!" It said as Cyndaquil shuffled uncomfortably at all the unfamiliar faces. She then moved it over to Chikorita.

"Chikorita, the leaf Pokemon! It uses the leaf on its head to measure the temperature and humidity! It loves to sunbathe!" It said as Chikorita rested next to Cyndaquil, enjoying the sun's rays. She lastly moved the Pokedex over to the happy couple, scanning the new bunny.

"Buneary, the rabbit Pokemon! When it senses danger, it perks up its ears! On cold nights, it sleeps with its head tucked in its fur!" Pikachu grinned, nuzzling her cheek, causing her to giggle.

"Pika Pika Pikachupi. (Don't worry about the cold, you got me to warm you up.)" Buneary beamed and hugged him some more.

"Buneary bun! (Oh you little charmer!)"

The others sweat dropped at the scene, feeling a little awkward. "...Froakie? (...Anyone else weirded out?)"

"Piplup pip! (Yeah, at least me and Chimchar are subtle!)"

"Dedenne! (I think it's cute!)"

"Chespin... (You would...)"

Ash then turned to Dawn in sudden realisation. "Oh yeah! Dawn, I just explained to Serena, Clemont and Bonnie what a Pokemon Contest was and they were hoping you could demonstrate for them. So can you?" He asked.

"Oh please, oh please, oh PLEASE!" Bonnie continued, holding her hands together and looking up at her imploringly.

"Of course I can, I'd be happy to, right guys!" Her three, unoccupied Pokemon nodded, cheering.

"Great! We'll find a perfect spot and then she can show you guys what she can do!" Ash exclaimed, expecting Pikachu to jump on his shoulder to agree with him.

In confusion, he looked over and found that both he and Buneary had fallen asleep against each other. He sweat dropped and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Oh yeah, Pikachu didn't sleep well last night since he was so excited to see Buneary again!"

Dawn giggled. "Yeah, Buneary was exactly the same." She explained, picking the two up.

"C'mon, let's head on out to the cliff, I hear there are some great views up there! Just one cable car away!" Serena said, leading them towards the car. Everyone else nodded and chased after her, Pokemon included.

* * *

><p>Once they were on the cliff, Dawn set the sleeping pair of rodent Pokemon on a nearby tree and ran to the centre of one of the fields with Piplup by her side. "Alright, you ready Piplup!"<p>

"Piplup! (Always!)" She replied, relishing the attention she was getting from the audience of Ash and his new travelling friends. She loved showing off.

"Alright! Then start off with Whirlpool!" Piplup nodded and threw her head back, creating a massive water current above her head, much to their amazement.

"Wow! It's so pretty!" Bonnie said, staring at the Whirlpool.

"It sure is, but Piplup's not finished yet!" Dawn smiled at Ash's words and continued the routine.

"Alright Piplup! Use Bubblebeam!" Piplup nodded and fired a volley of bubbles into the Whirlpool, causing them to spiral around in a circular motion, causing sunlight to refract through the bubbles in many different directions and angles, essentially creating one huge disco light show that even people passing by stopped to admire the beauty of it.

Not realising the repercussions that this dazzling light may have near a cliff...

Fennekin, after watching the Whirlpool, had thought that the routine was finished and had spotted a few twigs near the edge of the cliff she could snack on. Feeling her stomach rumble slightly, she slipped away, hoping not to have garnered too much attention.

She didn't, however, notice Froakie following her, concerned. "Are you okay, Fennekin?"

She turned to him and tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Um...Yeah, just a bit hungry is all." She answered him, stepping about four steps towards the edge of the cliff and snatched one of the twigs up, much to Froakie's horror.

"Hey! Get away from that ledge!" Froakie scolded her, causing her to look up at him. "That's a dangerous thing to do! You could fall off!" Fennekin huffed and turned away.

"I can look after myself, Froakie! Don't tell me what to do!" She shouted back.

"Well I wouldn't have to if your weren't doing something so stupid! Get back over here now!" Fennekin stuck her tongue out at him and took one step closer to the edge of the cliff.

Froakie's blood started to boil now. What was she trying to prove by doing this?! "Get back here now!" He seethed, letting out almost violent levels of anger at this point.

She turned back to face him, a twig sticking out of her mouth before it disappeared behind her lips. "You're no fun, you know that!"

"There's a time and a place for fun and now is neither the time nor the place! You're in a lot of danger over there, now get back over here!"

"...Make me!" She asked, grinning. Froakie groaned and turned away.

"You know what, fine! Go ahead and get yourself killed! See if I care!" He replied, coldly, much to her shock and shame.

"...Sorry Froakie...I didn't mean to make you worry...I just...AHH!" Froakie turned in alarm as one of the refracted rays of light hit Fennekin, unexpectedly, in the eye, causing her to finch backwards...

...off the side of the cliff.

"FENNEKIN!" Froakie cried out, jumping after her and grabbing her in a hug. Once she was secure, he looked around himself, almost as if his adrenaline set everything in slow motion. Vaguely, he was aware of their trainers looking over the side of the cliff but that wasn't as important as trying to find a ledge or something to land on...

...but there were none!

All there seemed to be was the rapidly approaching ground which, even with his jumping abilities, he couldn't land on safely. It was a really high cliff! It was impossible for Hawlucha and Fletchinder to catch up to them as well. So he did the last thing he could think of to do.

He spun round so that his back was facing the ground, using his body as a cushion, grabbing a few frubbles to pull down his chest and over his head to provide further insulation from the impact for Fennekin.

She looked down in horror as they landed and she bounced off him and landed on her side a couple of feet away from him, some of his frubbles sticking to her fur.

But she didn't care about that right now, she needs to check on her friend who had taken the full brunt of the impact for her. "FROAKIE!" She cried out, running up to him.

He was lying on the ground, eerily still. Gently, she shook his body, only just noticing a red liquid leaking down and staining her paw.

She pulled her paw back and stared at the blood staining it in horror. "No..." She whispered as she removed the frubbles from his chest and saw what had caused the blood to leak...

...He had been impaled by a sharp rock.

Tears started to fill up her eyes as she gazed down upon the still Froakie and leaned her ear down next to his mouth.

Thankfully she could hear him breathing, but it was very shallow.

"Fennekin! Froakie!" She heard from above her and looked up to see Fletchinder and Hawlucha flying down towards them.

"FLETCHINDER! HAWLUCHA! PLEASE! HELP HIM!" She cried out, revealing how bad Froakie's injuries were.

The two cringed as they approached the frog Pokemon and Fletchinder squatted down in front of him. "Alright, you two lift him up onto my back and I'll fly him to the Pokemon Centre! Afterwards, you get everyone else to go there too!"

"Sounds like a plan!" Hawlucha replied, trying to sound as calm as possible, but on the inside, he was terrified! He liked Froakie, he was a good friend, a great partner and an even better rival!

Fennekin was still trembling and sniffling with fear, worry and guilt. _"It's all my fault! I should have listened to him! He was just concerned for my safety, he wasn't trying to boss me around! And now he paid the price for it!"_

"On the count of three, Fennekin, okay?" Hawlucha asked, to which she nodded silently. The two got on opposite sides of Froakie. "One...Two...THREE!" He announced as the two lifted him of the rock as carefully as they could, hearing a sickening, squelching sound as he levitated up by the help of his friends.

Fennekin flinched, feeling a stabbing pain in her heart, knowing that this was all her doing.

Soon he was off and he fell limp onto the Fire/Flying dual type, who shivered at how...unnatural it felt. "Y-yikes! I'd better hurry!" He exclaimed, taking to the air as quick as possible, shooting upwards as quickly as possible, careful not to lose his cargo.

Hawlucha knelt down and offered his back to the fire fox. "Here, let's go Fennekin!" She blinked her tears away and jumped onto him without a word, only for more tears to take their place.

* * *

><p>Fletchinder stood in front of the Pokemon Centre and looked at the door, waiting for it to open. "C'mon! C'mon!" He said, anxiously before he noticed the out of order sign. "What?! The door's...broken?!"<p>

He cursed under his breathe before he felt Froakie's breath get even shallower. _"Alright door...You're going down!" _

He took a few steps back and shot into the air, throwing himself forward and building both heat and momentum. "FLAME CHARGE!" HE cried out as he smashed through the glass doors of the Pokemon Centre, much to the shock of the patrons and Nurse Joy.

Fletchinder flinched as he felt a few glass shards cut into the skin under his feathers, but continued to the front desk, facing a very disapproving Wigglytuff. "Wiggly Wigglytuff! (You better have a good reason for doing that!)"

"Fletchinder...Fletch! (My friend's been really hurt...Please help!)" He replied, manoeuvring Froakie, carefully, in front of her.

She and Nurse Joy gasped in horror and pushed down a panic button on the desk.

Suddenly, a red siren went off and four more Pokemon, two Wigglytuffs and two Cefables, burst out from the back room with a wheeled table, which they placed Froakie onto, and rushed to the back. Nurse Joy placed a hand on Fletchinder's shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile.

"I promise we'll do all we can for him. In the meantime, Wigglytuff here will take a look at those cuts." Wigglytuff nodded, picking the bird up.

"Wigglytuff! (Let's take a look then!)" Fletchinder watched Froakie get wheeled away before he eventually gave into his own exhaustion and passed out.

* * *

><p>"ASH! WATCH OUT FOR THE GLASS!" Serena cried out as said boy barged through the door and looked around frantically.<p>

"Excuse me!" He called out to a man with a brown coat and bowler hat, about to leave through the side entrance to the centre. "Did you see my Fletchinder and Froakie?"

The man looked back and gave a nod. "I assume you mean the Fletchinder that smashed through that door right there." He said, motioning to the fragmented glass entrance, it's remains being continually crushed by the careful footsteps of his friends and their Pokemon. "Froakie was taken into P.I.C.H.U. now and Fletchinder is being looked at for a couple of cuts and bruises."

"Thank you so much sir!" Ash bowed before turning back to his friends and nodding to them as he approached the front desk. _"Man! This is like deja vu!" _He thought to himself as he had flash backs of running into the Pokemon centre with a bleeding Oshawott in his arms and a worried Snivy on his shoulder.

Ash had to steady himself on the front desk as he reached it, clenching his eyes shut to stop any tears from spilling. "Please be okay Froakie..." He whispered to himself, not noticing a young woman listening to him.

"Ah, so I assume that this is your Fletchinder then?" The younger Nurse Joy said, physically younger by about five years. Fletchinder turned, tiredly, towards Ash, happy to see his trainer. Ash looked back and smiled at the bird, gratefully.

"Yes..." He said, swiping Fletchinder off the table and hugging him. "I'm real proud of you buddy, thank you for getting him here so quickly!"

"Fletch...(You're welcome...)" They suddenly heard a ding, and the light indicating that surgery was taking place turned off.

Out of the surgery room came the five relieved faces of Nurse Joy and the four Fairy-Type Pokemon. "W-w-we did it..." Nurse Joy let out, shakily, glancing down at Froakie, who's chest had been wrapped up firmly by medical gauss and his arms being wrapping in much the same manner with surprisingly little done to his head. "So what had happened to the poor dear?"

"I think...I think he and Fennekin were playing to close to the edge of the cliff and they must of slipped and fell..." Ash said, screwing his eyes shut again. "This is all my fault! I should have been watching him!"

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to face Serena, smiling at him lightly. "It's not all your fault, Ash. I should have been watching Fennekin too..." Fennekin had heard this and just felt worse.

"_I can't believe they're blaming themselves! This is my fault, not there's!" _She thought to herself, feeling even more tears trying to fault.

"Now stop that, both of you!" Nurse Joy scolded, causing them to flinch. "This is nobody's fault! You can't have twenty-four hour surveillance of your Pokemon! These things happen and pointing blame is not going to help anyone!"

She ushered the four Pokemon to take Froakie to the back. "I'll let you know if he wakes up and I'll sort you out some rooms. However it's Pokemon only during the night, so I can't let you back there."

They all nodded except for Fennekin, who shook out of Serena's grip and ran towards where they rushed Froakie. "Fennekin!" Serena was about to go after her, before Nurse Joy put a hand on her shoulder.

"Leave it. I'm sure it just wants to check on Froakie." Clemont nodded.

"Yeah, and if she doesn't come back, I'm sure she's only staying to watch over him." Serena looked on, worried.

"Okay...If you're sure."

Dawn smiled, putting an arm around her. "Hey Fennekin looks strong enough to protect herself and Froakie, so no need to worry!"

"That's when I worry the most..." Ash said, still fretting over his Froakie.

* * *

><p>Once the four Fairy-Type Pokemon left the room, after injecting some sort of liquid into an IV bag attached to Froakie's arm, Fennekin jumped onto the chair next to his bed, then onto the bed itself.<p>

From there she looked into Froakie's peaceful face and sighed in relief. "Those Nurses are miracle workers..." She mumbled, making a mental note to let the Nurse Wigglytuffs know that more often.

She circled on the spot for a few seconds before finding a comfortable space to lay down and start thinking, already knowing that sleep is going to escape her tonight.

"Well...Thank you Froakie..." She whispered, knowing full well he can't hear her. He's asleep right now, so any words that fall on his ears would be wasted. Still, it's nice to practice. "...You...Y-you saved my life...A-at the risk o-of your own..."

She shook her head, freeing the tears that were lodged in the ducts. "I'm so so so so so so sorry!" She finally yelped, burying her face into the sheets below her. "This is all my fault! I should have listened to you! I should have gotten away from the ledge! It was a stupid thing to do! I...I-I...I..."

Froakie shivered a bit and Fennekin's head shot up to look at his slowly opening eyes. "Hi...Hi there...Strange orange blob..." Fennekin rose an eyebrow at the strange words, but was otherwise overjoyed that he was awake.

"F-froakie!" He smiled, excitedly.

"Where?!" He said, moving his head left and right, as if searching for him. Fennekin recoiled a bit.

"Um...You're Froakie, aren't you?"

"...Oh yeah!" He responded, grinning happily. "Woohoo!"

"Oookay, I think you need some more sleep." Fennekin concluded, stepping up to move the covers up and to tuck him in.

Froakie looked as the orange blob turned into the fox Pokemon he usually sees. But, his muddled loopy brain wouldn't let him have any control on what he was going to do or going to say.

So what he said, was. "Wow...You're really pretty..." Fennekin's eyes shot open and she turned to the half open irises of her Water-Type friend.

"Um...Thanks..." She replied, blushing slightly. She then looked down at herself and grimaced. Her fur was frizzy, their were frubbles on her chest and chin, there was dried blood on her paws and tear streaks down her face. _"I'm a mess!"_

"I'm only telling the truth..." She blushed again, but decided to let this go for now as she brought the covers just under his chin, nuzzling him in a friendly manner on the cheek.

"Try to get some sleep now, okay?" She said/asked, moving back to her spot on the bed to try and sleep herself.

After a few minutes, Froakie piked up again. "Can you tell me a story?" She looked up at him, quizzically. "My mommy used to tell me a story everytime I went to sleep."

"Well...Okay I guess I know one story...Once, there were these five special gears, called the Time Gears..." And so the night continued with the story falling on Froakie's ears until he eventually gave way into sleep and Fennekin, much to her amazement, managed to as well.

* * *

><p>ML54: This is for one of my new favourite pairings! Froakie and Fennekin!<p>

Fennekin: Please review, but no flames.


	2. Bad Moods and Boredom

ML54: Hi everybody!

Everybody: Hi ML54!

ML54: Well, here is our next chapter, and to save you all the trauma, I won't be doing surgery on it, but Bunnelby will do a disclaimer for it.

Bunnelby: Will I?

ML54: Yes you will!

Bunnelby: *Sighs* ML54 doesn't own Pokemon.

**Bad Moods and Boredom**

Fennekin awoke from a fairly uneasy sleep, images of the sharp stone impaling her friend's chest still fresh on her mind and the blood on her paws...both literally and figuratively.

She shook her head and glanced towards the peacefully sleeping frog, his frubbles expanding and contracting as he breathed in and out. A tear soon found it's way into her eye, but she quickly rubbed it away and jumped off the bed.

"_I'm probably the last Pokemon he'd want to see right now..." _She thought to herself, slipping out of the doorway and away from him. She just couldn't bear to see the anger or, even worse, the disappointment in his eyes.

* * *

><p>"C'mon Piplup, it wasn't your fault." Cyndaquil said, trying to comfort his team mate. Piplup just shook her head.<p>

"Of course it was my fault! If it wasn't for my little disco ball, none of this would've happened!" She exclaimed, holding her flippers on her forehead and resting her elbows on her knees. **(Or the equivalent of elbows and knees)**

Chikorita wrapped a vine around her friend's shoulders. "Hey now, you were focused on your performance. There's no way you could have known they'd be near the edge."

"Yeah...But if it makes you feel any better, you could apologise when Froakie wakes up. And hey, there's Fennekin now!" Cyndaquil continued, pointing towards the fire fox who was walking towards the exit towards the garden of the Pokemon Centre.

"...Yeah...I guess I should..." Piplup said, standing.

Before she left, however, she gave both of her team mates a hug. "Thanks guys. You're the best!"

"We try." Chikorita smiled as the penguin walked away. Once she was out of earshot, Chikorita cast a curious glance towards Cyndaquil. "Hey, I thought you hated Piplup?"

Cyndaquil recoiled a bit. "What?! I never hated Piplup! Sure, we argue a lot, but when it comes down to it we're still friends...very dysfunctional friends but friends none-the-less."

"Oh..." Chikorita blushed a bit in embarrassment. "Sorry..."

"Hey it's alright."

* * *

><p>"Hey Fennekin!" Piplup called out, causing the fox to stop in her tracks. She turned to the Sinnoh starter, curiously.<p>

"Um...Hi Piplup?" She said, quickly rubbing her eyes free of the tears she was sure were about to start falling. "What's up?"

"Well...I just wanted to apologize...If it wasn't for my disco ball, you wouldn't have..." Was about as far as she got before Fennekin growled at her.

"STOP IT!" She yelled, her eyes misting up again. "WOULD EVERYONE STOP BLAMING THEMSELVES! IT'S MY FAULT AND MINE ALONE! I SHOULDN'T HAVE EVER BEEN NEAR THAT LEDGE IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

Piplup, understandably, recoiled at Fennekin's loud yelling and backed up a bit. "Hey I didn't exactly help things by blinding you. I just wanted to..."

"WELL DON'T!" Fennekin snapped, before running away from the penguin, who was standing there, a little shocked about what had happened.

"*yawn* Piplup?" She heard from behind her and she turned to find Pikachu standing there, looking like he had just woken up. "What's wrong?"

Piplup pointing down the hallway, towards where Fennekin had run. "I was just apologizing to Fennekin for blinding her with my Whirlpool disco ball and she blew up at me and ran away." Pikachu nodded, now a little more concerned.

"Hm. I think I know what this is about."

"You do? What?" Piplup asked, curiously. Pikachu sighed.

"She's going through the same thing I felt when I got Oshawott hurt." He cringed as he thought about that old wound. "It was the worst thing I had ever done and I couldn't help but think about how it was all my fault and that I was beyond forgiveness..."

"But we did forgive you." Piplup replied, confused. Pikachu smiled a bit.

"Yeah you did, but at the time I didn't feel like I deserved it. That everyone SHOULD hate me for what I did. It was their duty to hate me after that..." Pikachu sighed, before looking at Piplup, fondly. "I learned that day that a true friend will always forgive you even if you make a mistake. That, in the end, nobody's perfect. We all have our faults...mine was jealousy."

"Yeah. You sure are scary when you're jealous." Piplup answered. "So Fennekin is pretty much thinking that she's beyond forgiveness...How do we show her she's not then?"

"The same way I found that I wasn't..." Pikachu answered, glancing towards Froakie's room. "She needs to talk to Froakie. I'll go find her, you go get some food, I think Buneary wanted to talk to you about something."

"Okay..." Piplup answered, about to walk away, before she grinned at him. "Oh and by the way. Nice hickey."

Pikachu blinked, before looking into the conveniently placed mirror beside him and saw that he, in fact, had a bright red love bite showing on his neck, just under his chin.

"Guess Buneary finally made you a man, huh?" Piplup grinned, teasingly at him while he blushed brightly.

"Sh-shut up!"

* * *

><p>Froakie sighed as he stared at the ceiling in his room, waiting for someone to come in. One of the Wigglytuff had walked in earlier to give him his food. Luckily one of his arms had come out of the fall relatively unscathed, so he was able to eat his food himself. He did not want to be paw fed!<p>

But now, with his breakfast consumed and everyone else apparently elsewhere, he had nothing to do. The room had nothing recreational in there and, even if it did, he wasn't likely to be able to get it.

"Bored...Bored..." He kept muttering to himself, trying to entertain himself by counting how many tiles the ceiling was made up of. _"It wouldn't be so ba if the room wasn't painted the dullest shade of white there is!" _He thought to himself as he initiated the counting.

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry Ash but visiting hours aren't for another hour for humans." Nurse Joy had said, looking apologetically at the boy who had dark bags gathering under his bloodshot eyes. He was unable to get any sleep last night, extremely worried about Froakie's health.<p>

"Alright..." Ash sighed as a yawn escaped his lungs.

"You should try to get a little sleep." She continued, to which Ash shook his head.

"No can do. Not until I see Froakie." He replied as he stumbled towards his friends, their Pokemon all at their feet except Pikachu and Fennekin. "One hour..."

"Ash you need to sleep!" Bonnie exclaimed, looking worried. Dedenne mirrored her expression on top of her head.

Ash sat down and waved her off. "I'll be fine Bonnie." He answered, leaning his back against the pillar behind him. Serena sighed and tilted his head forward a bit, slipping a small cushion behind his head, before he leaned back against that.

Dawn rose an eyebrow, to which Serena answered. "He's always falling asleep in funny places, so I just carry it around with me."

"Ah..." She replied, rubbing her chin, thoughtfully. "Maybe me or Brock should have done that..."

* * *

><p>Fennekin sat on the cliff edge that Froakie and her fell off the day before, looking down at the massive drop before her. <em>"It should've been me..." <em>She thought to herself, replaying the events of yesterday over in her head.

The horrific scene of Froakie hitting the ground, breaking her fall and getting pierced in the chest by that rock. The blood...The blood that still painted her paws. She just couldn't bring herself up to clean herself up right now.

She didn't want to clean it off either. Didn't want to clean it and pretend that yesterday didn't happen. She couldn't fool herself into thinking that if her fur became as pristine as it usually was that Froakie would sit next to her, completely fine, telling her that the group was ready to move on.

She felt a presence next to her and turned to face...

...someone.

The Pokemon was a brown fox creature with a white mane and a big, bushy tail. "So...What ya thinkin'?" The Pokemon, female by voice, asked in concern.

"Um...I'm sorry, who are you?" The brown Pokemon grinned.

"Oh right, sorry 'bout that partner, Ah git a little carried away sometimes. Ah'm Eevee!" She answered in a southern drawl in her voice. Fennekin nodded, looking away and back down towards the ground.

"Fennekin..." Eevee glanced at her, then down the cliff, then at her again.

"Um...Ya ain't thinkin' 'bout jumpin', are ya?" She asked, now even more concerned. "Cause Ah ain't a whole lotta good at tha whole, negotiatin' thin'."

"No..." She responded quietly. As tempting as it was to 'take the easy way out', she couldn't make what Froakie did for her in vain or leave her trainer alone.

"This 'bout ya little Froakie friend then?" Fennekin turned, startled. "Yeah, Ah saw tha whole thin'."

"Oh...Um...Why were you watching?"

"Ah saw tha little light show an' Ah decided ta watch." She answered, bumping her shoulder into Fennekin's. "Ya got yerself an incredibly selfless boyfriend, ya know?"

"...Boyfriend!" Fennekin yelped, a little shocked. "We're not...I mean we aren't..." Eevee rose an eyebrow at her.

"...Wow. Why not?" Fennekin paused at the odd question.

"Uh...Because...We're just friends!"

"That ain't a reason." The Eevee grinned. "Some o' tha best couple Ah know started as 'just friends'."

"B-but...Why would he want me?!" Fennekin exclaimed, not even bothering to choose her words carefully. "I'm the reason he almost died! I ignored him while he was trying to keep me safe! He has NO reason to even be remotely interested in me!"

The Eevee stared at her blankly for a few seconds before her eyes became half lidded and she said, in a deadpan tone. "Yer kiddin', right?"

"W-what?"

"Sugar, Ah know Pokemon who have been together fer YEARS who wouldn't do fer their significant other what that boy did fer ya." She explained, pacing back and forth in front of her as if she were giving a speech. "Ah'd say, if he isn't in love wit' ya, that Ah'd eat mah own tail!"

Fennekin stared forward, past the Eevee as if she were seeing everything in front of her all at once. _"It'd explain why he was so angry while I was ignoring him too..." _She felt a bit of red stain her cheeks as the thought of Froakie suddenly appearing in there.

"Fennekin!" Pikachu called out to her as he skidded to a halt in front of her. He glanced at the Eevee and nodded in greeting. "Hey stranger."

"Howdy." She replied, smiling. "Say weren't ya with that guy with tha hat?"

"Um...Ash, yeah. Sorry, I just need to check on..."

"I'm going to go see Froakie!" Fennekin suddenly declared, proudly, before rushing back towards the Pokemon Centre. Pikachu hopped out of her way in surprise, gawking in her direction.

The Eevee laughed and poked him in the shoulder. "Took care o' it, now this is tha part where ya ask why Ah was curious." Pikachu shook his head and faced the fox in a look of both gratitude and disbelief.

"Um...Right, why did you want to know?"

"Well, Ah saw y'all trainin' a few times an' thought that ya looked like y'all were havin' fun. So Ah wanted ta know if'n he had space fer one more?"

Pikachu blinked before grinning and nodding his head towards the Centre. "I'm sure he does, but you'd better ask him yourself." He said, leading Eevee towards the building. Eevee spotted something and grinned, amused.

"Nice love bite, Romeo." Pikachu's eyes shot open and he rubbed the spot where Buneary got a little frisky the night before. "Shame yer taken, yer awfully cute."

"Sh-shut up..."

* * *

><p>Fennekin raced off ahead of the two and towards the Pokemon Centre, dead set on seeing Froakie again. She couldn't shake the feelings that Eevee had brought up. <em>"Does he really feel that way about me?" <em>

There hadn't really been many incidents that Fennekin can think up to support the statement that the evolution Pokemon had made except a few subtle blushes that she noticed on him a couple of times. Such as the Bamboo forest when they all got separated from their trainers and he cleaned her tail for her.

She smiled to herself as she remembered that. It was a very nice thing for him to do for her, despite how little it mattered in the situation they were in. She didn't like being dirty at all, so to her he was like a saving grace.

She fought some red off of her own cheeks as she paused by the Pokemon Centre's pond. What was she thinking? She can't like Froakie like that...can she?

"_I guess I never really thought about it..." _She continued as she sat and stared at her reflection in the water pool. She hardly even recognised the Pokemon staring back at her though, as she had dirt staining her fur, as well as Froakie's blood and her cheeks were matted down with dried tears.

"_I can't look like this in front of him!" _She thought as she took a quick dip in the water and jumped back out to start rubbing some of the stains out.

After she had done that, she shook herself dry and started to lick her paw to groom herself before she paused. _"W-wait! Why do I care so much about HIM seeing me like this?! Unless..."_

Her eyes widened as she laid her paw against her chest. _"U-unless I actually DO like him!"_

She shook her head and ran towards his room. _"No! I just think I like him because he saved my life!"_

She was satisfied with that answer before another thought struck her. _"But then...Why have I been thinking about him so much lately!" _

See, her interest in the frog like Pokemon didn't appear out of nowhere. She had been looking at him differently ever since Professor Sycamore's Pokemon Camp when they made that Pokevision clip.

It was one of the first times she had seen him enjoy himself and have fun rather than training. Sure he might have fun training, but the big smile he had when they were running around and playing tag was refreshing.

Then she had seen him dancing. Admittedly, he could use some work, but he seemed to have fun. She then started thinking about maybe trying to dance with him at some point, but she didn't think anything of it, seeing that friends can dance together too!

She sighed as she leaned against the wall, noticing Froakie's room to her left. "I guess...I do kind of like him..." She muttered softly.

"I knew it!" She jumped, startled, and turned to find Chespin grinning and jumping like he had won some sort of bet. "I knew you liked Froakie!"

"Ch-chespin!" Fennekin exclaimed, covering his mouth with her paw. "Please shut up! Froakie is in there, not in Kanto!"

Chespin rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly as she removed her paw. "Hehe, sorry about that. But still, this is great!"

"Um...How so?" She asked, confused.

"It means Bunnelby owes me three oran berries!" He clarified, before rushing towards the waiting room. "He's all alone in there, by the way!"

Fennekin sighed as she walked towards the door before another thought struck her. _"Wait...Chespin's not gonna...Oh Arceus no..." _

* * *

><p>"Really!" Dedenne exclaimed, excitedly, peering up at Chespin.<p>

"Yup, heard it straight from the Ponyta's mouth!" He clarified, pointing at Bunnelby. "So a deals a deal!"

"Urg! Fine!" Bunnelby said, reaching into Bonnie's bag for his pouch and handing over the berries. "Happy now!"

"Very much so!" Chespin answered, eating all three of the berries in one go.

"So now what?!" Dedenne asked with curiousity. "Are they gonna get together or what?"

"I don't know...I guess only the future will tell..."

* * *

><p>ML54: Til next time, read and review and constructive critisism only!<p> 


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